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Army to discharge officer who refused to go to Iraq – Court Martial is over

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-watada-discharge29-2009sep29,0,103553.story?track=rss

1st Lt. Ehren Watada’s court-martial ended in a mistrial, and the Army has decided not to attempt another prosecution. Watada had argued he would be participating in war crimes if he fought in Iraq.

By Kim Murphy
September 29, 2009
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Reporting from Seattle – Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada will be discharged by the end of the week, concluding the fight over his refusal to deploy to Iraq, an Army spokesman said Monday.

After a court-martial proceeding that ended in a mistrial, the Army has elected not to attempt further prosecution and instead will discharge the first lieutenant, who argued he would be participating in war crimes if he fought in Iraq.

“What was approved was basically his request to resign in lieu of a general court-martial for the good of the service,” said spokesman Joseph Piek at Ft. Lewis, Wash., where Watada has been working at a desk job.

The separation is classified as an administrative discharge. Watada’s lawyers said it was granted under “other than honorable conditions.”

The Army previously had refused Watada’s offer to resign.

Watada, 31, a native of Honolulu, was court-martialed for refusing to join his unit on its deployment to Iraq in 2006. He also was accused of making statements critical of former President George W. Bush and the war that the military deemed “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

The proceedings ended in a mistrial, and a judge ruled that the Army could not retry Watada on most of the counts because of double jeopardy. Military prosecutors could have tried him on two charges stemming from statements Watada made that had been conditionally dismissed prior to trial.

Defense attorney Kenneth Kagan said the decision not to pursue further appeals was made by Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who is not related to Watada’s lawyer.

“I think the Army came to the conclusion that it was not going to be able to prevail in a prosecution,” defense attorney Kagan said. “And I think when the new solicitor general came in, her office had a fresh look at it, and as it was not bound by any of the decisions that had been made previously, they saw fit to put a stop to the appellate process.”

In a statement, Watada’s lawyers described him as “a hero and a patriot . . . [who] took a lonely stand as a matter of conscience, never attempted to spread discord within the ranks, and never sought to evangelize about his ethical convictions. . . . It is our belief that history will treat Lt. Watada far more favorably than the United States Army sees fit to regard him now.”

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Marine faces court-martial in Fallujah killing

(AP) – 29 Sep 2009

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. — The government failed twice to persuade jurors that members of a Marine squad wrongly killed unarmed detainees in Fallujah, Iraq. Now it’s trying a third time.
A court-martial is scheduled to begin Tuesday at Camp Pendleton for Sgt. Jermaine Nelson, who has pleaded not guilty to unpremeditated murder and dereliction of duty in the November 2004 death of a detainee. The Marines were involved in vicious house-to-house fighting to recapture Fallujah from insurgents.
If convicted of murder, Nelson, of New York, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
He is the only remaining defendant in a case that has resulted in two defeats for the government. Nelson’s squadmate, Sgt. Ryan Weemer, was acquitted by a military jury of the same charges in April. That jury consisted of eight Marines, all of whom served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Nelson’s squad leader, former Sgt. Jose Luis Nazario, was acquitted last year in federal court in Riverside, Calif., on counts that included voluntary manslaughter. Nazario was beyond the reach of a court-martial because he had completed his military obligations.
During Weemer’s one-week court-martial at Camp Pendleton, the defense argued that the government could not prove Weemer was guilty of murder because there were no bodies, no relatives complaining of a lost loved one and no forensic evidence.
The case came to light long after the battle.
In 2006, after he left the Marine Corps, Weemer applied for a job in the Secret Service. During a background interview before a polygraph test as part of the application, he was asked about the most serious crime he ever committed.
“We went into this house, there happened to be four or five guys in the house,” Weemer said in a recording of the interview played during his trial. “We ended up shooting them, we had to.”
Weemer’s account triggered an investigation that led to the charges.
Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center, said the Marines might be criticized for ignoring war crimes if they dropped charges against Nelson after losing twice.
“It’s lose once, lose twice, well, let’s try it again,” Solis said. “When you’re talking about juries, you never know, but I would not be surprised if there were an acquittal.”
Nelson’s squad was from Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, the same company that a year later was involved in the widely publicized killings of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq. None of the Marines from the Fallujah case were involved in the Haditha case.
Eight Marines were charged in the Haditha killings, the biggest criminal case against U.S. troops to come out of the Iraq war. Charges were dismissed against six defendants and a seventh was acquitted. The sole remaining defendant is the squad leader, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, whose court-martial is not scheduled.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain

By DAVID DISHNEAU (AP) see http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=353531

SABILLASVILLE, Md. — On a sultry day in July 2008, Marine Sgt. David W. Budwah strode in his battle fatigues to the front of a picnic pavilion to tell three dozen young boys what he did during the war.

With his clear gaze, rigid posture and muscled, tattooed arms, Budwah looked every inch the hero he claimed to be. He said he was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when a homemade grenade exploded, wounding his face and arm when he dove to shield a buddy from the blast.
“We’re here to make sure of the freedom you have every day,” Budwah told his audience at Camp West Mar, a wooded American Legion compound about 60 miles northwest of Washington.
But the Marines say Budwah is a liar, a fraud and a thief. They are court-martialing the 34-year-old Springhill, La., native, alleging he was never in Afghanistan, wasn’t wounded and didn’t earn the combat medals he wore — or the many privileges he enjoyed.

Budwah joined the Marines in October 1999 and spent nearly all of the next six years with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., where Budwah has been stationed since February 2006.

Phony heroes aren’t unusual. Thousands of complaints pour in annually to the FBI and civilian groups about impostors flaunting store-bought medals.
Their very prevalence exposes something else — a nation so eager to embrace its war fighters, especially the wounded, that it sometimes fails to discern between the real heroes and the fakes.

“In every society in history, the warrior is glorified,” said phony-hero debunker B.G. “Jug” Burkett of Plano, Texas. “The second you say you’re a warrior who has performed heroically in combat, everybody perceives you differently.”
Burkett, 65, a Vietnam veteran and author of the 1998 book, “Stolen Valor,” said the urge to honor the wounded can cloud a person’s judgment.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Canadian Charged in Killing of Afghan

By REUTERS and printed in the New Your Times

Published: September 18, 2009
OTTAWA (Reuters) — A Canadian Army officer has been charged with shooting and killing a wounded Afghan insurgent last October, the Canadian military said Friday. It is the first case of its kind since Canada initially sent troops to Afghanistan in 2002.

The army officer, Capt. Robert Semrau, will face a court-martial on charges of second-degree murder, attempting to commit murder, negligence and behaving in a disgraceful manner, the Canadian Defense Department said in a statement.

The department, which did not indicate when the court-martial was likely to begin, said at an earlier hearing that the insurgent had been unarmed when he was killed.

The announcement of the court-martial comes amid growing dissatisfaction among Afghans over the number of civilians who are being killed by United States and NATO-led troops, most of them in airstrikes.

Canada has about 2,700 troops based in the city of Kandahar. In all, 131 Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan.
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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Here is an interesting story about a Marine that is accused of faking war wounds.

Marine charged with faking war wounds for gain – Facing court martial
By DAVID DISHNEAU (AP)

SABILLASVILLE, Md. — On a sultry day in July 2008, Marine Sgt. David W. Budwah strode in his battle fatigues to the front of a picnic pavilion to tell three dozen young boys what he did during the war.

With his clear gaze, rigid posture and muscled, tattooed arms, Budwah looked every inch the hero he claimed to be. He said he was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when a homemade grenade exploded, wounding his face and arm when he dove to shield a buddy from the blast.
He urged the boys, ages 9-12, to take pride in themselves, their country and its warriors.
“We’re here to make sure of the freedom you have every day,” Budwah told his audience at Camp West Mar, a wooded American Legion compound about 60 miles northwest of Washington.
Spencer Shoemaker, then 10, was so impressed he had his picture taken with Budwah and kept a treasured newspaper clipping about the visit.
“What he said made me feel like I wanted to join the Marines,” Spencer said.
But the Marines say Budwah is a liar, a fraud and a thief. They are court-martialing the 34-year-old Springhill, La., native, alleging he was never in Afghanistan, wasn’t wounded and didn’t earn the combat medals he wore — or the many privileges he enjoyed.
Budwah joined the Marines in October 1999 and spent nearly all of the next six years with a radio communications unit in Okinawa, Japan, according to the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va., where Budwah has been stationed since February 2006.
Phony heroes aren’t unusual. Thousands of complaints pour in annually to the FBI and civilian groups about impostors flaunting store-bought medals.
Their very prevalence exposes something else — a nation so eager to embrace its war fighters, especially the wounded, that it sometimes fails to discern between the real heroes and the fakes.
“In every society in history, the warrior is glorified,” said phony-hero debunker B.G. “Jug” Burkett of Plano, Texas. “The second you say you’re a warrior who has performed heroically in combat, everybody perceives you differently.”
Burkett, 65, a Vietnam veteran and author of the 1998 book, “Stolen Valor,” said the urge to honor the wounded can cloud one’s judgment.
“I tell reporters that when you’ve got a guy who’s vocal — ‘Let me tell you how I won my Silver Star’ — your antenna should go up,” Burkett said. “The real guys typically don’t talk about it.”
Budwah’s case is remarkable because he is an active-duty Marine facing military justice, not a civilian charged with wearing unearned medals. Of nearly 3,100 courts-martial last year in the four major armed services, only 27 were trials for wearing illegal decorations. Just two involved Marines.
Prosecutors say Budwah wore unauthorized medals and accepted VIP invitations to rock concerts, major-league baseball games, banquets and other events meant to fete wounded warriors.
He faked post-traumatic stress disorder in hopes of leaving service early and was sent to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, where he bluffed his way into 33 events from late July through November 2008, according to charges obtained by The Associated Press through an appeal of its Freedom of Information Act request.
Bethesda hospital spokesman Chris Walz said the staff tries to involve as many patients as possible in such activities, which range from free NFL tickets to speaking engagements like Budwah’s at Camp West Mar.
The charges include making false official statements, malingering, misconduct and larceny. Budwah faces up to 31 1/2 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge if convicted on all eight counts at a trial set for Oct. 20. at Quantico.
Budwah, who declined to enter a plea at his Aug. 5 arraignment, denied wrongdoing in a brief telephone interview in April. “The allegation is not even true,” he said, declining to comment further.
Defense attorney Marine Capt. Kelly Repair and prosecutor Marine Capt. Thomas Liu also have declined to comment.
Recent prosecutions of active-duty service members include Dontae L. Tazewell, a Navy hospital corpsman sentenced in January 2008 in Norfolk, Va., to two years in prison for wearing an unearned Purple Heart and other decorations. Tazewell falsely claimed he had rescued six Marines and recovered the bodies of four others in Iraq.
Prosecutors portrayed him as a failing sailor so desperate to remain in service that he fabricated the story.
Navy corpsman Robert White, got 45 days in the brig after pleading guilty in December at Great Lakes Naval Station, Ill., to wearing a Purple Heart he bought. A former girlfriend testified White obtained the medal after he was shunned by his peers for assaulting her, the Navy Times reported.
People fabricate military injuries for many reasons, including laziness, greed, sympathy and psychosis, said Loren Pankratz of Oregon Health & Science University, who wrote about PTSD impostors in his book, “Patients Who Deceive.”
“A more common theme would be somebody who would represent sort of the antihero — the guy who’s given his all and yet been abused and misunderstood,” Pankratz said.
Burkett said others are simply con men.
Walter E. Boomer, who served as assistant commandant of the Marine Corps from 1992 to 1994, vaguely remembers meeting Budwah in November when they were guests at a Grand National Waterfowl Association benefit on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. They shot at ducks, drank and dined with other VIPs and shotgun manufacturing executives.
“I accepted his story at face value,” Boomer said. “Nothing that I recall would have set off alarm bells.”
Budwah again managed his way to the center of attention at a September 2008 boxing event in Glen Burnie, Md. Organizer Scott Wagner said the highlight of the night was when he brought Budwah and dozens of other military hospital patients into the ring for a standing ovation.
“Were they injured or not? I don’t know and I really don’t care. If half of them were injured, I still feel good about it,” he said.

A year after Budwah’s speech to the youngsters at the American Legion camp, Spencer Shoemaker sat stunned in the family’s kitchen as he read the charges against his Marine idol for the first time.

“Well, it’s better that I know,” the boy said after a long silence. “It did tear me down, but I’ll still join the Marines.”
His father Michael, a construction worker, seethed at the news about Budwah.
“He scammed America,” Shoemaker said. “He scammed a kid.”

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Court Martial Hearings At Halt in Uganda

Anthony Wesaka 9 September 2009

The general Court Martial (GCM) in Makindye, Kampala has for over a month not been hearing cases due to an incomplete panel, Daily Monitor has learnt.

President Museveni in July appointed Brig. Bernard Rwehururu as the new chairman of the GCM taking over from Lt. Gen. Ivan Koreta. The panel that is supposed to have seven members has only the new chairman, Brig Rwehururu.

During the hand over in July, Maj. Timothy Zakama, a prosecutor, said since 2002, a total of 554 cases were registered, out of which 391 were disposed of, leaving a backlog of 163 cases.

Lt. Col. Felix Kulaigye, the army spokesperson, yesterday said it is President Museveni, who is responsible for the appointment of the panel, adding that the courts management has written to him about the matter and waiting for his response.

Attempts to contact State House spokesperson Tamale Mirundi on the issue were futile as his mobile phone was switched off.
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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Courts-Martial Await 2 Fort Carson Soldiers Charged With Rape
Sep 16, 2009 01:17 PM

Fort Carson Soldiers Charged With Rape

by Zach Thaxton
z.thaxton@krdo.com
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZachThaxton

FORT CARSON – Courts-martial are set to begin in less than two weeks for two Mountain Post soldiers accused of raping a female soldier on-post.

Pfc. Steven Montiel and Pvt. Bradley Temple are members of the 746th Ordinance Company, a bomb-disposal unit. They’re accused of sodomozing the woman and conspiring to rape her. Pvt. Temple’s court-martial is set to begin Monday, Sept. 28. Pfc. Montiel’s trial is expected to start Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Fort Carson officials haven’t offered comment on the pending courts-martial.—————–
Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

New court martial members sworn in
Wednesday, 16th September, 2009

Kakuru, Abigaba, Odoi and Kimora take oath before Rwehururu on Tuesday
By Charles Ariko

NEW members of the General Court Martial were sworn in by Brig. Bernard Rwehururu, who was recently appointed by President Yoweri Museveni to head the army court. Brig. Rwehururu took over from Lt. Gen. Ivan Koreta, who had served for two terms.

The swearing-in ceremony for the new officers took place on Tuesday, at the General Court Martial premises in Makindye. The officers who took oath were Lt. Col. Sam Kakuru, Maj. Johnson Odoi and Capt. Augustine Bwegendaho, who will serve as the judge advocate.

Judge advocates are lawyers seconded to the court as technical persons to advise the panel. The other officers are captains Godfrey Abigaba, Naboth Mugisha, and Simba Ongol and Warrant Officer II to Desire Kimora.

Although Rwehururu took his oath as chairman of the court on July 31, the court could not sit before it was fully constituted.
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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Court Martial Attorney - Bangladeshi mutineers won’t face court martial

| Author : DPA
News Category : Asia

Dhaka – Bangladesh on Tuesday decided to prosecute nearly 3,500 border guards allegedly involved in a late-February mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters in Dhaka under the paramilitary force’s own laws, rejecting the military’s demand that they be court marshalled. “The mutineers will be tried under the Bangladesh Rifles Orders of 1972 and 1976, but those who were involved in killings and other offences during the rebellion will be prosecuted at a speedy trial tribunal under the penal code,” Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters after an inter-ministry meeting which decided the mode of the trial.

The Bangladesh Rifles is a paramilitary force run under the Ministry of Home Affairs, rather than the Defence Ministry, and has different laws governing the conduct of its troops.

The 33-hour troop mutiny against their commanders that ended at the BDR’s Dhaka headquarters on February 26 left 75 people, including 57 army officers, dead, triggering tension in the regular armed forces.

The army has demanded the immediate prosecution of the mutineers under the Army Act of 1952, but the government of Sheikh Hasina Wazed sought the top Bangladeshi court’s opinion.

The Supreme Court opposed the court-martial demand.

Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department, with the help of Britain’s Scotland Yard and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been investigating the mutiny.

Once the department submits its report, the trial is scheduled to start sometime in November, the law minister said, adding the chief of the Bangladesh Rifles would run the trial outside Dhaka in line with the BDR Act by forming courts in those places.

“The trial will be fair and transparent under whichever law it takes place,” he said.

Rights groups have cast doubt on whether the alleged mutineers would get justice if they were prosecuted in a court martial.

Posted on : 2009-09-15 | Author : DPA
News Category : Asia

Dhaka – Bangladesh on Tuesday decided to prosecute nearly 3,500 border guards allegedly involved in a late-February mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles Headquarters in Dhaka under the paramilitary force’s own laws, rejecting the military’s demand that they be court marshalled. “The mutineers will be tried under the Bangladesh Rifles Orders of 1972 and 1976, but those who were involved in killings and other offences during the rebellion will be prosecuted at a speedy trial tribunal under the penal code,” Law Minister Shafique Ahmed told reporters after an inter-ministry meeting which decided the mode of the trial.

The Bangladesh Rifles is a paramilitary force run under the Ministry of Home Affairs, rather than the Defence Ministry, and has different laws governing the conduct of its troops.

The 33-hour troop mutiny against their commanders that ended at the BDR’s Dhaka headquarters on February 26 left 75 people, including 57 army officers, dead, triggering tension in the regular armed forces.

The army has demanded the immediate prosecution of the mutineers under the Army Act of 1952, but the government of Sheikh Hasina Wazed sought the top Bangladeshi court’s opinion.

The Supreme Court opposed the court-martial demand.

Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department, with the help of Britain’s Scotland Yard and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been investigating the mutiny.

Once the department submits its report, the trial is scheduled to start sometime in November, the law minister said, adding the chief of the Bangladesh Rifles would run the trial outside Dhaka in line with the BDR Act by forming courts in those places.

“The trial will be fair and transparent under whichever law it takes place,” he said.

Rights groups have cast doubt on whether the alleged mutineers would get justice if they were prosecuted in a court martial.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.

Interim military justice system passed in Australia
September 14, 2009
An interim military justice system which replaces a court set up under the former Howard government has been fast-tracked through the federal parliament.

Defence Minister John Faulkner on Monday welcomed the passage of legislation which means the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will revert to a system of trials by court martial.

A second bill dealing with past Australian Military Court sentences and orders also passed the lower house.

“It is critical that the ADF has a functioning military discipline system,” Senator Faulkner said.

The introduction of the temporary system follows a High Court decision last August which ruled the Australian Military Court was constitutionally invalid.

The court was set up, on ADF advice, by the Howard government in 2007.

Earlier, parliamentary secretary Mike Kelly told the lower house the reinstatement of the former system was a transitional arrangement while the government worked out a new permanent system that was impartial, independent and met the constitutional requirements.

Dr Kelly, a former soldier, said it would maintain “continuity of discipline” in the military.

Opposition frontbencher Bob Baldwin said the priority was to ensure the ADF had a constitutional system that was impartial, independent and transparent.

Mr Baldwin said the government’s temporary measures were “the best that can be done”.

Liberal Peter Lindsay said while he supported the interim measures it would have been better if the parliament could have passed a permanent solution on Monday.

The High Court decision wasn’t unexpected, he said.

“Perhaps it might have been prudent for those who advise the government to really have worked out what the long-term solution would be rather than just the interim solution.

“It would have been better to have been debating a permanent solution in the best interests of the ADF and the wider community tonight rather than a temporary solution.”

The Military Justice (Interim Measures) Bill (No 1) 2009 and Military Justice (Interim Measures) Bill (No 2) 2009 passed the lower house with the support of the coalition.

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Michael Waddington is a court martial appeal lawyer – court martial appeals attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States.